A court in China condemned a former party official to life in prison after finding him guilty of abusing his political position. In case in point, Yi Xiao, the official, took $17 million in bribes and engaged in cryptocurrency mining, which has been prohibited in China since 2021.
Xiao Deprived of Lifetime Access to Personal Property and All Political Rights
A Chinese court on Tuesday imposed a life sentence on a former party official for his involvement in numerous crimes, including illegal cryptocurrency mining activities.
Yi Xiao, a former official in the Jiangxi province, was accused of abusing his political influence to support cryptocurrency mining operations, according to a statement made by the Chinese court.
As a result, the court stripped Xiao of all of his political rights and sentenced him to life in jail. Additionally, Xiao’s entire personal property was seized.
Despite China’s ban, Xiao accepted $17 million in bribes and engaged in cryptocurrency mining operations
In particular, the Hangzhou court trial was clear that Xiao had illegally accepted about 125 million ($17.1 million) in bribes between 2008 and 2021 by abusing his functionary positions. Xiao served as the Jiangxi province committee’s deputy chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference, among other positions.
From 2017 until 2021, the party member also served as Fuzhou City’s party secretary. The court stated that Xiao engaged in crypto mining activities during this time that resulted in “significant losses to public property, national, and people’s interests.”
Given that China banned all cryptocurrency trade and mining two years ago, the court’s ruling is hardly shocking.
By the end of September 2021, all crypto transactions had been outlawed by the government, which was ruled by autocratic Xi Jinping. The country’s cryptocurrency business was destroyed within a few months as a result of the collapse in Bitcoin’s hash rate and the relocation of Chinese exchanges.
Interestingly, however, China continued to be one of Asia’s major crypto hubs, employing 15% of the continent’s total workforce, according to a report earlier in the year. Furthermore, despite the fact that cryptocurrency trading has been outlawed in China for almost 3 years, the WSJ stated that 20% of Binance’s global trading volume comes from the country.
